TARTAR CHARACTER. 231 



The south side of the pass was quite devoid of snow ; the 

 gently sloping north side, however, was considerably patched 

 with it, and the cold at night was intense. And here I 

 may remark, that although the perpetual- snow line on the 

 western side of the main Himalayan chain is somewhere 

 about 16,000 feet, eastward on the ranges rising from the 

 Tibetan uplands it is nearly, if not quite, 20,000 feet. 

 This difference may possibly be owing to the extreme dry- 

 ness of the atmosphere on the Tibetan side. 



Tanksee, a considerable-sized village, being the last place 

 on our route where men, yaks (the domestic bovine cattle of 

 Tibet) for carrying our baggage, and food were procurable, 

 we made arrangements accordingly. Here I secured the 

 services of a Tartar named Changter as guide, a pastoral 

 inhabitant of the Pangong district, who was well acquainted 

 with the haunts of the game there and in Changchenmo, 

 and who had the advantage of possessing a very slight 

 knowledge of the Hindustani language. He was accom- 

 panied by his son, a little lad named Norgie, who attached 

 himself to my companion, the Major, in the capacity of 

 gillie — and an uncommonly sharp one he made, notwith- 

 standing his youth. Here I hired a pony — the Major was 

 too proud to ride — by way of saving myself as much 

 unnecessary toil as possible ; and a few small sheep were 

 purchased for our commissariat department, at one rupee 

 (eighteenpence) per head. 



The first evening after leaving Tanksee, by way of 

 amusement as well as of making ourselves acquainted with 

 our Tartar followers, we gathered them together around 

 the camp-fire of sun-dried yak's dung — the only fuel pro- 

 curable — collected in the vicinity, and got them to sing, 

 dance, and perform on a musical instrument like a long, 

 wooden penny whistle, from which they contrived to pro- 

 duce wonderfully dulcet tones. Great was their delight 

 on the Major's passing round a snuff-box, and loud and 

 boisterous their mirth at seeing one another sneeze. 



